more important as a means for ridding himself of the carbuncles which caused
him so much suffering in later life (McLellan 1973:337; Regnault 1933).
While Opium was an important medicine in mid nineteenth century Europe,
it was not a medicine without its ‘social problems’. Two of these stand out
in particular. The first is a concern with the purity of the opium in the mar-
ketplace and in household medicine cupboards. The second was the concern
over ‘baby doping’.
Adulterated opium was a common concern throughout much of the nine-
teenth century, since it lead to very irregular doses, and highly adulterated
opium would not be effective (Berridge and Edwards 1980:87–93). In a foot-
note of Capital: Volume 1, Marx writes:
From the reports of last Parliamentary Commission on adulteration of means
of subsistence, it will be seen that the adulteration even of medicines is the
rule, not the exception in England. E.g., the examination of 34 specimens
of opium purchased at many different chemists in London showed that 31
were adulterated with poppy heads, wheat flour, gum, clay, sand, &c. Several
did not contain an atom of morphia. (1967:601)The location of the text, in the midst of a section on the poor dietary condi-
tion of the working class, is important. Given the tendency in capitalist soci-
ety to cut every possible corner in pursuit of profit, petit bourgeois merchants
were cheating sick people out of medicine that they badly needed.
In the nineteenth century, opium-based medicines were commonly used
for children, and there were many brands marketed specifically for children’s
use. A very partial list of those sold in England includes Godfrey’s Cordial,
Dalby’s Carminitive, Daffy’s Elixir, Atkinsons’s Infants Preservative, Mrs.
Winslow’s Soothing Syrop, Slowe’s Infants Preservative and Street’s Infant
Quietness (Berridge and Edwards 1980:98–99). The name of the last of these,
Street’s Infant Quietness suggests one of the common uses for opium-based
elixirs. In Volume 1 of Capital, Marx writes that
... the high death rates are, apart from local causes, principally due to the
employment of mothers away from their homes, and to the neglect and
maltreatment, consequent on their absence, such as, among others, insufficient
nourishment, unsuitable food, and dosing with opiates. (Marx 1967:398)
While this passage draws primarily on a government report from 1861, Engels
wrote about infant-doping in The Condition of the Working Classes in England
(1845) and it had begun to be seen as a social problem beginning in the 1830s
Opium as Dialectics of Religion • 15